Kristen R. Ghodsee's Blog

So I could not sleep last night and I decided to take my good camera and go out onto the streets of Mitte for some classic scenes in the hour before sunrise (5:15). It’s my last day in Berlin, and I will certainly miss this place.

The first couple of days in Berlin have been amazing so far. I am sinking deep into the history of the DDR, and trying to better understand the transition after 1989. I met with my brilliant German editor at Suhrkamp on Thursday, had dinner with my dear friend Susan Neiman on Friday, and have hit the Berlin Trödel markets hard this weekend.

In front of a portrait of August Bebel in Prenzlauer Berg.

Berliner Dom by night

DDR-era bust of Marx purchased in the Weissensee trödelmarkt for 3 euro

Two new typewriters from the trödelmarkt: An Olympia Traveller de Luxe and a Prvileg.

I'm enjoying some time in the German capital, a city I first visited in 1990, almost 30 years ago. Needless to say, it has changed a lot in the intervening years. Here is the view from my temporary apartment in Mitte.